Asteroid Pallas, the second asteroid to be discovered and one of the so-called ‘big four’ asteroids, is at its best for 2021 and is well placed for observation from UK shores.
Watching a bright star disappearing or reappearing from occultation behind the Moon’s limb is always an exciting observation to make. This week there are back-to-back events involving two of the brightest stars to be occulted this year.
Mighty Jupiter, the king of the planets and the most observer-friendly planet of all, comes to opposition on the night of 19/20 August (Thursday night/Friday morning).
RS Ophiuchi, the most famous recurrent nova and one of just seven such systems, has gone into a very rare outburst, rising rapidly brightness 600-fold in just a day from magnitude +12 to around +5.
It’s that time of the year again! The Perseid meteor shower, which peaks this week, is highly-anticipated by observers hoping to enjoy the spectacular sight of multiple meteors raining down during mild summer nights.
Saturn, often described as the jewel in the Solar System’s crown, comes to opposition on the night of 1/2 August in one of the highlights of the observing year.
A relatively bright nova was discovered on 12 June in the northern constellation of Hercules (Nova Her 2021) and within just a few hours of its discovery it had brightened by around two magnitudes.